Vengeance Drone - What Design?
The drones used were likely a new type of drone capable of flying long distances. In fact, this is because the drone seen in this video has a canard wing configuration. This means it has a smaller horizontal surface in front of the main wing, compared with traditional aircraft which have this behind. Video posted to social media purports to show a drone flying over the Russian capital with a straight wing mounted toward the rear of the fuselage and a characteristic unswept canard-type foreplane, with the powerplant driving a pusher propeller at the rear. A similar configuration has been seen on drones used in earlier attacks on Krasnodar in southern Russia.
Russian intelligence agencies were trying to find out which drones were involved in the attack on Moscow. According to analysts, strikes on the capital of the Russian Federation and the suburbs could have been carried out using UJ-22, Bober and Sinitsa drones. Propagandist Alexander Kots, who works for Komsomolskaya Pravda, claimed that the Russian capital was attacked by upgraded A-2 Sinitsa drones. Eyewitnesses managed to photograph one of the UAVs in the sky. According to Kots, outwardly it looks like an Israeli-made IAI HAROP loitering ammunition. The range of its flight can reach 1,000 km. The "A-2 Sinitsa" was developed by engineers from the Kharkiv Design Bureau "Rise". The drone has a "Duck" layout. Outwardly, it looks smaller than the UAV captured in the sky over Moscow. Since the A-2 Tit can stay in the air for no more than an hour, Kots made the assumption that the launch of the drones was carried out from the territory of the Moscow region.
Alexei Rogozin, head of the Centre for Transport Technology Development, wrote in his blog that Ukraine used previously unknown UAVs, which are not amenable to the effects of EW – complexes "Previously unknown aircraft-type drones with a ‘duck’ aerodynamic scheme – the same ones used in the attack on Krasnodar on 26 May – have been used to attack Moscow. They are powered by a combustion engine, have a wingspan of at least 4 metres and a theoretical range of 400 to 1,000 km. The cost can be estimated at $30-200 thousand for each vehicle. Radio-electronic suppressors of drones are generally useless for these devices, the only way to effectively counteract them is to shoot them down,” said Rogozin.
The well-known Russian political analyst Sergei Markov argues in his blog that the UAVs were launched directly from Russian territory. "25 drones were involved in the attack on Moscow. They flew from some place in the Moscow suburbs. Some call it the Benelux settlement. The terrorists’ technology seemed to be as follows. Parts of the drones are brought into some warehouse in a closed area under the guise of business. There are hundreds of such warehouses in the suburbs of Moscow. There, drones are assembled from them by terrorists. And they are launched at targets. Support of these terrorist strikes, targeting is carried out by the US army satellite constellation. The direct perpetrators of the terrorist attacks are agents of the Ukrainian special services,” Markov is persuaded.
Some verified videos from Moscow were initially met with skepticism due to it appearing that the drones were flying backwards. The photos of debris on the ground that has been shown widely does not match anything. It's not a UJ-22, which doesn't look like any parts of the multiple videos of the canard drone. One recording went viral in which a light aircraft was mistaken for one of Kyiv’s most-used drones, the UJ-22 Airborne, which was developed and manufactured by Ukrainian company Ukrjet.
There was initial online speculation that the Ukrainian-manufactured UJ-22 drone had been used. However, the UJ-22 was not the drone pictured in these videos. These drones have a different wing, wheel position and fuselage design.
Mikhail Zvinchuk, author of the well-regarded telegram channel Rybar and a military analyst, reported that the type of drone is known, as are the places where they were launched. "The UJ-22 UAVs were used in the raid on Moscow. Similar drones have already reached Moscow’s suburbs. There are about 500 UAVs of this model in the Armed Forces… The UAVs were launched from border areas in the Chernigov, Sumy or Kharkiv regions. This once again raises questions about the justifiability of withdrawing troops from Chernihiv and Sumy regions a year ago and leaving a buffer zone north of Kharkiv in the autumn. And it also raises questions about reconnaissance activities in the border regions, as well as enemy activity in these areas,” Rybar notes.
He called for strikes on UAV assembly and armament factories, the coordinates of which are known. "The factories for assembling drones and equipping them with explosives are in known locations – in the same “Kommunar” in Kharkiv, in the workshops in Krivoy Rog, in the factory premises in Zaporozhye. The coordinates have been relayed more than once, but they are hit very selectively. They need photos and video evidence from inside the workshops where it will be written in huge red letters “this UAV will fly to the Kremlin”. And even then there will be doubts,” Zvinchuk stresses.
On 10 October 2022, the Russians fired 75 missiles into the territory of Ukraine, 41 of which were shot down by air defense forces. As a result of the attacks on Kyiv, educational institutions and several objects of cultural heritage were damaged. The Kyiv City Military Administration also reports on the dead and wounded. On October 10, volunteer and TV presenter Serhiy Prytula reacted to the massive missile attack by the Russian invaders on Ukraine by announcing the beginning of the collection, together with public activist and blogger Serhiy Sternenko, of equipment that would take revenge on the Russian army.
Prytula and Sternenko reported on Facebook on January 10 that the funds collected during the "For Revenge" fundraiser were directed to the purchase of vengeance drones [UA = "Dron Pomsti"] for the Ukrainian army. Prytula noted that since October 10, Ukrainians had transferred UAH 352 million (about US$9 million) to their accounts. According to Sternenko, this money was used to buy drones with a flight range of up to 30 km, which will destroy military equipment and air defense systems of the occupiers. They also purchased drones that fly up to 200 km and drones with a flight range of up to 800 km.
On January 11, a post announcing the purchase of 142 drones was published on the Serhiy Prytula charity fund's Facebook page. Their total value is UAH 351,434,900. "Revenge drones" were divided into three types:
- 50 pieces with a flight range of 800 km, a payload of 30 kg @ UAH 200M
- 42 pieces with a flight range of 200 km, a payload of 8 kg @ UAH 51.2M
- 50 pieces with a flight range of 30 km, a payload of 3 kg @ UAH 100.3M
"As we promised, there will be a lot of "cotton" [ie, explosions]. And it will be at different distances. The occupiers will not have to relax near the front line, nor in the deep rear, nor in general where there is no smell of cotton... " fund announced.
Ihor Lachen, the author of the Telegram channel "Lachen writes", shared a photo with the Ukrainian drone "Beaver". In 2022, the blogger collected 20 million hryvnias for five such drones. This is known from social networks. “Thank you very much for your incredible support and every donation you have sent. Every contribution contributes to the appearance of more cotton," Lachen wrote. collection of 20 million hryvnias for the purchase of five such drones was announced on December 20 last year. The initiative was joint - in addition to Lachen, the charitable foundation "GOVOR HELP" participated. The announcement stated that Ukrainian kamikaze drones will be used by the Main Directorate of Intelligence. The blogger described it as a "suicide drone" in a Telegram post published in December 2022. The medium-sized device would be about three meters long and would contain an explosive charge to detonate against a given target.
According to an analyst from Janes, the defence intelligence firm, the drone in this video resembles a so-called Bober ["Beaver"] UAV due to its canard wing configuration, rear-mounted engine, fins and fixed landing gear. Canard drones come in many shapes and forms. The canard drone flying over Moscow had similar design elements to the conceptual "Beaver" design that was only officially unveiled a few weeks ago was produced by a Ukrainian as part of the "Revenge Drone" plan. They have a similar aerodynamic design including the unique upper and lower empennage.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
